How to Breed Competitive Pokemon from Scratch

This page discusses How to Breed Competitive Pokemon from Scratch. Check out the section on Breeding for comprehensive information on that process, as this page will teach you how to breed awesome Pokemon, but not necessarily why it works. Follow the instructions set out here, and you'll pump out a 5 IV Pokemon every 2-3 hours if you've done all the preparations.

Each Pokemon is born with a hidden value between 0-31 (in HP, Attack, Defense, Special Attack, Special Defense, Speed). These are individual values. Pokemon caught in the Friend Safari are born with at least 2 maxed IVs, and these can be inherited to children via breeding. The idea is to keep inheriting maxed IVs to children until all wanted stats are maxed out.

Hit up Cafe Introversion in Lumiose City after maxing out your style. To max out your style, complete in Lumiose City. O-Powers can be used by clicking the PDA on top of your Player Search System on the bottom half of your DS. Click on O-Power, click on Hatching Power, and click "Use" to apply the buff to yourself. Hatching Power level 3 cuts hatch times significantly.

Using an O-Power consumes Energy from a meter which consists of ten orbs. Each orb recharges at a rate of 1 every three minutes. Energy recharge rate increases +1 for every 1,000 steps, and it caps at 4,000+ steps. You can recharge 4 energy meter every 3 minutes, providing you with hatching O-Power around the clock.

Talonflame is the only Pokemon besides Moltres and Volcarona that has both the ability Flame Body and can learn HM04 Fly. If a Pokemon with Flame Body is anywhere in your party, your egg hatch times are cut in half. Having Talonflame learn fly allows you to only waste 1 slot of your party for your breeding needs.

Everstone can be found in Geosenge Town by a scientist in a house to the left of the Pokemon Center. Additional ones can be found being held by captured Gravelers. Destiny Knot can be found by the maid in Cyllage Hotel to the left of the main entrance.

Ditto Preparation can be skipped if you are willing to trade your Legendaries, Mega Stones, or Shinies for Dittos. All 3 are all sought after, and countless trades are being made between Dittos and the list above on trading forums.

False Swipe is a TM that never lets you faint a Pokemon; they will be stuck at 1 HP. Inversely, opponents who only know False Swipe will never be able to faint you. Teach a Pokemon False Swipe, and then teach it 3 non-aggressive moves (agility, leer, etc). Some people prefer to level a Gallade (attack form of Ralts). Gallade is one of the only pokemon that can learn both False Swipe and Hypnosis. I preferred leveling a Farfetch'd with only False Swipe and 3 non-aggressive moves. I had a high level Butterfree if I needed to use Hypnosis. Sleeping is optional, but it creates more consistency and saves you some money on Poke Balls.

Another option you can use to catch Dittos is to use another Ditto! Ditto won't be able to transform into anyone therefore having no attacks. Make it carry the smoke ball so you can easily escape other battles that isn't a ditto.

Friend Safari is found in Kiloude City, and allocates each friend a type. Delete everyone who is not a normal type. You can find a Ditto Safari in the Friend Safari subreddit and hope he adds you, or you can spam add everybody in "Friend Code Megathreads" until you find one.

Friend Safaris with Ditto will have an encounter rate of 33%, instead of around a 5-10% chance in the Pokemon Village (only other place to find Ditto). This may feel grindy, but it will save you time in the long run.

Lead with your False Swipe mule, and you will never faint your Ditto and your Ditto will never faint you. Use Dusk Balls at night (3.5x multiplier) or Repeat Balls (3.0x multiplier). I've found Dittos have a catch rate of about 40% with Dusk Balls at 1 HP. They have a 100% capture rate with Dusk Balls at 1 HP when asleep.

If you have an idea about what Pokemon you want to use on your team, jot down the Natures you want on them. You can find individual Natures in our list of Natures page. For the most part, it's good to have an Adamant, Jolly, Brave, Timid, Modest, Impish, Bold, Calm, and Careful. These are by far the most frequently used natures in competitive play. Having a set of these will make your life easier.

After you've caught a box of Dittos, go to the Pokemon Center in Kiloude City and report each of your Dittos to the Ace Trainer who asks about the "potential of your Pokemon". He will tell you which of the Ditto's stats have maxed IVs. Each will have at least 2 maxed IVs if you caught from the Friend Safari. You need 2 core Dittos (one for attack, one for special attack), and 2 respective Dittos that cover the maxed stats for the other. When you have 2 sets, you're done.

Example set to create a Perfect IV Special Attack Pokemon: 31/x/31/31/31/31

Key: HP/Attack/Defense/Special Attack/Special Defense/Speed

Ditto 1: x/x/x/31/31/31

Ditto 2: 31/x/31/x/x/31

The number "31" represents a maxed IV, and X represents any number that isn't maxed that you don't need to care about. The idea is that both dittos should cover all stats but the one that cannot benefit you. Combined, both Dittos cover all 5 stats required to make a Perfect IV Pokemon. Create another set for Pokemon that use Physical Attacks. Catch one ditto with 0 Speed if you're planning to breed Pokemon with lowest speed possible (Trick Room teams, Aegislash, etc).

I average about one 3 IV Ditto every 11 Dittos captured, and it took me 150 dittos to get one with 4 IVs. Catching a 4 IV Ditto has saved me over 5 hours of breed-time, and there are players offering over 3 shinies per 4 IV Ditto. A 5-6 IV Ditto is so rare, you can easily net 5-10 shinies for one. Knowing that you're playing the lottery each time you catch a Ditto helps the grind. See our list of Individual Values for more details.

Using the example above, Skarmory needs Whirlwind and Brave Bird from egg moves after researching online. Look on Bulbapedia to see what Pokemon can offer the egg move to Skarmory. Starly can learn both Brave Bird and Whirlwind and shares an egg group with Skarmory.

Breed a female Skarmory with male Starly that knows Whirlwind and Brave Bird. Keep breeding until you get a male Skarmory, and it should be born with Whirlwind and Brave Bird. If you are keeping a Hidden Ability, make sure the new child has this hidden ability. The child must be male because only fathers can give the children egg moves.

In Generation 6, females can now pass egg moves. I am not familiar with success rates and nuances, so to stay on the safe side, inheret egg moves through the father unless needed otherwise.

If you are just worrying about Hidden Abilities, the gender of this generation does not matter. If you are worrying about both Hidden Abilities and Egg Moves, you must keep hatching until you get a male that has the correct Ability and egg moves. This detail must be followed until step 7.